Remember, Remember the Fifth of November
by Sparky75
Summary: A slightly belated Bonfire Night story and nothing too serious
1. Chapter 1

Just a quick two parter (I hope) to get me back into the swing of writing again. Thanks to Tranmissionends64 for the nudge. It's a slightly belated seasonal fic! Please feel free to leave any comments/reviews/thoughts on this story.

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xxx

"So if you could collate the details from the three different factions and have the report through to me by ten o'clock tomorrow?"

Ruth nodded her agreement as Adam leant back against the desk opposite her having finished briefing her on a ongoing covert operation. It had been a blessedly quiet day on the Grid and they were using the downtime to try and catch up with paperwork and other mundane tasks. She looked over at her colleague, noting the dark circles under his eyes and the haunted look within them, ever present since the death of his wife some months earlier. "Everything okay? Away from here I mean." She ventured softly, "how's Wes doing?"

Adam brightened slightly at the mention of his sons name. "He's good," he answered with a soft smile touching his lips. "Obviously he still misses his mum desperately, but he's coping remarkably well... probably better than me in a lot of ways." He folded his arms loosely as he further relaxed against the desk, "In fact I'm taking him to the..."

"Adam!" Whatever Adam was going to say was lost as Harry's voice came loudly from his office, closely followed by the man himself, "Adam, where the hell... ah there you are."

Adam and Ruth shared a wry look of amusement as their boss made his way over to them. "Where else would I be?" Adam answered evenly.

"Sometimes I wonder," Harry said evenly glancing between the two of them, wondering momentarily what they'd been talking about. Since the team had returned from the conference at Havensworth a couple of weeks ago he'd made a concerted effort to try and keep his distance emotionally from his team, from Ruth, hoping that by doing so he'd give her time to think and maybe make her own way back to him. But he'd also wondered if Adam and Ros would benefit more from a return to the Section Head persona he'd adopted when Tom Quinn had been his right hand man. When he'd acted more as a figurehead and less like a senior colleague.

"You wanted something?" Adam queried as Harry failed to follow up on his original comment and seemed to have completely lost his train of thought.

"Ah, yes," Harry looked up, suddenly remembering his original purpose in leaving his office. "The meeting with Six about the situation in Gibraltar has been pushed back to five o'clock tonight. I've asked the driver to pick us up fifteen minutes before then so we have plenty of time. We can go over strategy in the car, it shouldn't take long."

"That's two hours later than scheduled." Adam pinched the bridge of his nose internally working through his options before swearing softly to himself. "I'm sorry Harry, I just won't be able to make it then."

"You won't be able to make it then?" Harry's voice dropped to Arctic levels as he repeated Adam's words back to him, once again wondering when his team had stopped saying 'how high' back to him when he'd asked them to jump. "You not making it is not an option, Adam. " Harry displeasure was palpable as he used his fingers to make speech marks as he said 'making it'. "You know the reasons why. The car is picking us up at 4.45. I expect you to be there."

"Well it'll be going without me." Adam stood up and folded his arms, meeting Harry's flintily stare with an equally hard look. "I have other plans for this evening and I have no intention of cancelling them."

Ruth glanced between the two men in dismay, wondering how a simple conversation could have flared up so quickly. "Could I not go in Adam's place?" she blurted out quickly in an attempt to defuse the testosterone fuelled standoff taking place in front of her.

Harry started slightly as Ruth spoke as if for a moment he'd forgotten she was there. He glanced at her quickly, "that's very kind of you Ruth, thank you. I'm sure your colleague appreciates the offer, but it won't be necessary." He moved his gaze back to Adam, "Mr Carter will be joining me... won't you." It was a statement not a question.

Adam bit his lip, trying to tamp down on his anger. "But..."

Harry sighed heavily. "No buts Adam. You know very well why it's imperative that you're at this meeting, so unless you're heading off to stop imminent Armageddon happening, then you're at that meeting come hell or high water."

"Why don't you want to go?" Ruth interjected, directing the question at Adam and trying to bring back a sense of reason to the conversation. It was very unusual for Adam to react in this way, meetings were continuously moving and it was rare for Adam to leave the Grid much before seven most evenings, and often much later. Ever since Fiona's death, he'd buried himself in his work and she reasoned that it must be something important to make him act the way he was.

"It's bonfire night," Adam said quietly. "I promised Wes that I'd take him to the fireworks and bonfire on the Green. He's been really looking forward to it, it was all he spoke about last weekend."

"I'm sorry Adam," Harry's eyes had softened as his Section Chief revealed his reasons for not wanting to attend the meeting and guilt started churning in his stomach. "I really am, but you know as well as I do that we have no choice. You need to be there, you know that."

Adam nodded his consent at last, but looked anything but happy in doing so.

Ruth looked between the two of them slightly confused. She, like the rest of the team had been kept in the dark over this. "What's this all about?" She asked, "the meeting with Six." She clarified at Harry's look.

"I'm afraid I can't say at this stage," Harry spoke quietly as Adam gave him a knowing look. "It's classified, Level One clearance only. You'll no doubt find out about it soon enough."

Ruth nodded, it was often the case that things were on a need to know level... but Harry had often kept her abreast of what was going on in the wider intelligence community, had used her as someone to bounce ideas off and she suddenly realised that this had stopped in recent weeks and she missed it.

"Well I better go and let my son down gently," Adam said with a deep frown. It wasn't often he was overruled by Harry and it smarted when it happened; even though, deep down he concurred with Harry's decision.

"Well what if..." Ruth spoke up as an idea started to formulate in her mind.

"What if what?"

Ruth glanced over at Harry. "What time is the meeting likely to finish?" Without waiting for his answer she turned to look at Adam. "Couldn't you go afterwards?"

Harry was the first to speak. "It should be over by six thirty, seven at the absolute latest."

"That's too late, by the time I picked him up it'll all be over." Adam rubbed his hand over his stubble in frustration. "I'll give Fiona's parents a call, maybe they'll be able to come up. Though," he glanced at his watch quickly, "even that would be cutting it very fine."

"Or I could take him." Ruth said with a small smile on her face. "I'd hate for him to miss out and well... I've nothing else planned for tonight."

"You?" Adam looked at her gratefully, "you'd do that for me?"

Ruth nodded slowly, "if you didn't mind."

"Why would I mind. Wes would love to spend sometime with you. He's always asking when Auntie Ruth can babysit him again!"

Ruth felt a faint flush of pleasure creep up her neck realising that Wes had remembered her after she'd looked after him one evening when it was the nanny's night off and Adam's babysitter had fallen through at the last minute. They'd spent a couple of quiet hours together while waiting for Adam to arrive home one Saturday evening after an undercover operation had overrun and she'd enjoyed the time she'd spent with the young boy. "What time does it start?"

"I think the bonfire it lit at 6.30 and the firework display is at 7.30pm. I was going to pick Wes up at quarter past five."

Ruth looked down at the pile of work in front of her before brushing the thoughts of what needed to be done to one side. "I could do that. With any luck your meeting won't overrun and you'll have plenty of time to meet us there and see the display. It should only take you ten minutes or so to get there from Legoland." She looked between the two men in front of her, "I presume that that's where the meeting is."

Harry nodded slightly, he shouldn't even be telling her that, but...

"That's settled then," Adam smiled slightly, looking more at peace than he had five minutes previously. "I'll just go and give the school a call so they're expecting you and can let Wes know what's happening."

As he fished his phone out of his pocket and headed back over to his desk, Harry leant over Ruth's desk. "Was the invitation to join you and Wes later just for Adam," he asked softly, "or was it a wider offer?"

Ruth looked up, Harry was closer to her than he'd been at any time since their late night meeting at Havensworth and she saw a hint of uncertainty in his eyes as he spoke, despite the lightness of the question he'd asked. "It's a public display Harry, everyone is welcome." She ducked her head down as she spoke before adding softly, "you'd be welcome."

Harry smiled as he heard her words, maybe all was not lost after all and the space that he'd put between them had worked and given her the opportunity to think and reflect. "Then I shall see if I can dig a pair of wellies out of the kit room and I'll see you later."

Ruth glanced at his back as he made his way back to his office, Adam was still distractedly talking on the phone to the school and there was no one else within earshot so she called out the question that was on the tip of her tongue. "I wouldn't have thought Bonfire Night would be your cup of tea?"

Harry turned round, "what's not to like, fireworks, toffee apples, jacket potato's. Plus," he shrugged his shoulders quickly, "I have rather a soft spot for Guy Fawkes."

"Really? Why?"

He raised both his eyebrows as he answered her question. "Because, as far as I'm concerned, he was the last man to have entered parliament with honest intentions!" With that, he gave her a quick grin, the smile lighting up his face momentarily as he made his way back into his office, with an unexpected night out to look forward to.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Well here's the second chapter and I hope it doesn't disappoint. Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter and particular thanks to everyone who took time to review, it really is much appreciated.

xxx

"What time do the fireworks start Auntie Ruth?" Wes asked, as he dragged Ruth along firmly by the hand which she was clutching tightly, scared of losing him if she let go of him for a second as they were in the midst of a large crowd making their way over to the centre of the Green where a huge bonfire, complete with a guy perched on top was waiting to be lit.

She started slightly as he spoke, still not quite used to the term 'Auntie Ruth' which Wes used so easily. Adam had introduced her as such the first time she'd met Wes, explaining that he thought Mr and Mrs was too formal as a way for Wes to address his and Fiona's friends and colleagues, yet simply using their first name felt too informal for a child Wes' age. Adding on the Uncle or Auntie was a handy compromise he'd said and one that he'd used when he was growing up with his parents friends. "Not for a while yet," she answered, "should we see if we can get closer to the fire and watch them light it?"

"Yeah!" Wes nodded enthusiastically and jerked her arm, causing her to lose her footing slightly on the frosty surface.

"Watch what you're doing," she uttered quickly as after a heart stopping moment she found her footing and righted herself, glad for the ballast that Wes provided and cursing herself for thinking that the boots she'd worn for work, as warm as they were, would be suitable for a very cold and frosty evening and a ground that was getting slipperier by the second.

"You need to watch yourself," Wes said with a serious expression on his face, "it's very slippy and it'll hurt if you land on your bum. At least that's what Grandad said to Granny last week."

Ruth smiled at the look on his face, at that moment, he really was a mini Adam Carter through and through. "Well how about if you keep hold my hand and help me stay on my feet so I don't fall on my bum and we go over there," she pointed to a spot around 20 yards from where they were standing close to some open caravans, "and then we can get something to eat."

"A toffee apple?" Wes said quickly, his eyes lighting up in expectation.

"Maybe later," she replied, remembering how much she'd loved the treat when she was a child. "I was thinking of a jacket potato first."

"With beans?"

"I'm sure we can stretch to that," Ruth agreed as they made their way over to the small spot of land close to some stalls serving a variety of food that she'd pointed out earlier, one of them considerably more gingerly than the other.

* * *

"Where on earth have all these people come from?" Harry grumbled to himself as he followed Adam through the throngs of people who all seemed to be heading in a different direction to him and all seemed to have conspired to have made it their life mission to make the walk across the large expanse of land as difficult as possible for him. He was just glad that he'd managed to purloin a pair of thick walking socks and wellies from the field stock at Thames House otherwise he was sure he'd be even more uncomfortable than he currently was.

Adam hid a smirk as he turned slightly to make sure the older man was keeping pace with him. "This is the great British public in all their glory," he answered just as a small girl being chased laughingly by her brother ran straight into the side of Harry. "You know, the people we've sworn to protect and all that," he added with a grin.

"Hmmph" was Harry's only response as he untangled himself from the child and brushed off the apologies from the mother who was following close behind. "Where did you say Ruth and Wes were meeting us?"

"Just over there," Adam pointed in a general northerly direction. "Ruth sent me a text earlier and said it seemed like a prime spot for the fireworks, plus it's relatively close to some of the stalls so it should be easy enough to track them down." As Adam continued to lead the way he grinned to himself as he recalled Harry's explanation for why he'd suddenly decided that 'it might be nice to see some fireworks, I haven't been to a display since Catherine and Graham were Wes's age' and 'it'd be good to see young Wes again, it's been a while since we last went to the Dogs.' Harry hadn't managed to meet his eye fully while explaining himself and Adam knew full well the only reason Harry was currently out on a bitingly cold November night was to do with a certain Analyst rather than any sudden desire to see Adam's young son, as fond as he might be of the boy.

Harry followed on behind him again, putting his hands in his coat pockets as he did so, glad that his black leather gloves were a staple of his daily wardrobe no matter what the weather was doing, he never knew quite when they would be useful for one reason or another, and today they were performing the job for which they had originally been made, keeping his hands warm!

* * *

"Dad!"

Adam waved as he spotted his son and Ruth and headed over to them both. "Having fun?" he asked while smiling at Ruth and drawing his son into a hug. "Sorry I'm late."

"We saw the bonfire being lit, they had to have three goes," Wes chattered away excitedly, "and the man on the top was burnt really quickly, but Auntie Ruth said that it's not a real man so that's okay."

Adam laughed as he heard his sons excitement come through. "And have you been good for Auntie Ruth?"

"I'm always good," Wes answered while Ruth smiled and nodded, "well nearly always anyway. We had a jacket potato to eat as well, with both beans and cheese." he finished off triumphantly.

"Beans _and_ cheese, well you have been spoilt." He pulled down the hat that was threatening to come off Wes's head and spoke to Ruth softly, "thanks once again for doing this. You're a lifesaver."

"It's been my pleasure," Ruth smiled before looking past Adam. "I thought..." She said softly before she trailed off slightly, a look of disappointment on her face.

He pretended not to hear her comment, instead looking down at his son. "I hope you don't mind, but I brought an extra guest with me." He spoke to Wes but made sure it was loud enough for Ruth to hear.

"Who?" Wes said excitedly.

Adam never got chance to answer as Harry walked over to them, a long thin package in his hand. "Hello Wes," he said walking over to him casting a quick smile and glance in Ruth's direction. He'd virtually invited himself along that afternoon and he hoped that she hadn't come to regret agreeing to it in the hours in-between. "I've just found these sparklers would you like to have a go?"

"Uncle Harry!" Wes said in greeting. "Am I allowed?" He looked over in wide eyed excitement to his father and Adam nodded in silent permission.

"As long as you're careful and make sure to hold it away from your body and not go too near anyone else." As Harry, Adam and Wes conspired to light the sparklers, Ruth stood watching over them all from close by. Seeing Harry outside of work again had caused another bout of butterflies in her stomach, the likes of which she hadn't felt since they'd bumped into each other in the hotel corridor at Havensworth, when she'd fled in nerves and embarrassment and had spent every sleepless night since then going over and over her reaction and why she just kept running from him.

Adam looked up and spotted her watching the three of them with a wistful smile on her face. Harry and Wes had managed to get one sparkler lit and Harry was now watching the boy carefully as he twirled one joyfully in the dark making shape and spelling out letters. He made his way over to her, "everything okay?" Adam asked quietly.

She nodded, "I'm fine."

He looked at her closely, "are you sure? I did wonder about Harry joining us but..."

Ruth touched Adam's arm lightly. "Honestly it's okay. And they're both having a whale of a time." She nodded over to the two of them, who by now had two sparklers lit and were trying to out twirl each other.

"He's a good man you know."

"Even after the argument you had earlier?" Ruth teased

"Even after that," Adam replied with a smile. "I didn't like it, but he was right."

"I know. He wouldn't insist on anything unless he had too."

Adam looked down at his feet, he'd been wondering if he should say something to Ruth ever since it had become obvious that whatever had been going on between her and Harry had come to an abrupt end, mainly he guessed, because Ruth had taken fright that their relationship was suddenly the hottest topic of gossip doing the rounds at Thames House and the thought that people were talking about her and gleefully speculating about what she saw in her boss, a man seventeen years older than her, had made her run for the hills. He regretted his small part in this, as did everyone else on the team, especially when it became apparent just how much it had affected them both. "It's nights like this that I really miss Fiona," he started carefully. "She loved watching fireworks, whether on bonfire night, New Year or just for the hell of it."

Ruth smiled sympathetically at him, knowing that there wasn't really anything she could say.

"But it's also nights like this, watching Wes and remembering the years we had together, first as a couple and then as a family, that really makes me glad that we took the risk and said to hell with it all when we realised how we felt about each other."

Ruth looked over at him, suddenly realising that this wasn't just Adam reminiscing, but him trying to get a point across. "Adam," she warned softly, "please don't say what I think you're..."

"This needs to be said Ruth, you can ignore everything I say, but please, just hear me out." He pleaded.

"Did Harry ask you to say something?" she queried, looking over to where Harry and Wes had moved slightly further away from them, by accident or on purpose she couldn't tell.

Adam shook his head firmly. "Not a chance. If he knew what we were talking now, then he'd have me up there on top of that bonfire in place of the guy, before I could count to three."

"Then why..."

"Because I've watched you and I've watched him and neither of you have been yourself over the last few weeks." Adam edged slightly closer to her as he spoke, "please Ruth, after tonight, I promise you that I'll never speak of this again."

Ruth finally nodded in agreement, sighing deeply as she did so. "Fine." She uttered, knowing that sometimes it was easier just to capitulate.

"You heard from both myself and Fiona how we met," Adam asked rhetorically.

She nodded. "Yes, It always sounded like something out of a romance novel."

Adam smiled at the memory, "in many ways it was. But what we always left out, mainly because it lessened so much over the passage of time, was how difficult it was initially and how much we both risked, just because we fell in love."

"In what way?", Ruth asked curiously. She hadn't been expecting this when Adam had said he wanted her to listen, and what he had to say now intrigued her.

"Falling in love with an asset, particularly an asset who's married to an incredibly dangerous man is the biggest no no in the spy handbook." Adam started. "When it became obvious to my bosses back at Six they tried to pull me off the case and send me back to London feeling that I was compromised; at first it was just those threats, but then they threatened to decommission me."

"What did you do?"

"I ignored them." Adam replied, his minds eye taking him back. "There was no way I was ever going to leave Fiona, and at the same time she had decisions to make. Her life was in danger everyday, if even the slightest whisper had got back to her husband about us then he'd have had her killed on the spot. I wanted her to leave with me six months before we actually did go, but she refused, she insisted that I had to do what I'd come out to do and she wanted to get every morsel of information that she could out of her husband and his cronies." He smiled to himself as memories came flooding back. "She then wanted me to leave, to go back to London alone and she told me that she'd report into a different handler because by that stage she knew that my career was under threat and she didn't want me to give it up for her. She was also as frantically worried about her husband getting hold of me as I was about her husband hurting her. It was an awful time for both of us."

Ruth moved one of her love covered hands to her mouth in shock as he spoke. "But it turned out okay in the end, you didn't get decommissioned and you came back here and had Wes."

Adam nodded. "We did. When the brass realised that I had no intention of leaving regardless of what threats were hurled at me they relented. I also think we have a mutual friend to thank for that," he said indicating towards Harry. "He was just starting to get some clout at the time and I was told that he'd told my boss to trust in me. Anyway, what I'm trying to say, and probably not being very clear about, was that despite everything that threatened us at that time, we both made the decision to ignore everyone else and ignore what everyone was saying and take a chance on us." He glanced over to his son quickly before continuing, "and it was the best decision we ever made. We had some very happy years together before Fiona died. Sometimes you just have to go where your heart tells you too, damn everyone else and hope that it all crinkles out."

Ruth nodded and smiled at him. "Thank you for trusting me with that."

Adam nodded, "I know that you won't tell anyone else, not that it's a big secret or anything, but," he shrugged carelessly, "most people just wouldn't understand what people in our position have to go through at times, spies like us," he clarified when he saw Ruth's puzzled expression . His face broke into a grin, "now I promise you that I'll never say anything to you again about this and no one will ever hear from me that we had this chat tonight, but he's a good man Ruth and he cares very much about you."

Ruth lowered her eyes to the floor, "I know," she said quietly, deep in thought.

* * *

"Hello." Harry said warmly as he made his way over. "I hope that it's still alright that I tagged on along with Adam this evening?"

"Of course." Ruth smiled, "you and Wes seemed to be getting on well."

They both glanced over to where Wes was now teaching Adam how to make shapes in the dark sky with his sparkler. "He's a good kid," Harry responded.

As an awkward silence descended on the two of them they suddenly both spoke at once, "How did the meeting go?" And "I hope Adam wasn't saying anything out..."

"Sorry. You go first." Harry said with a bashful grin.

Ruth burrowed her hands even further into her pockets, "I just wondered how the meeting had gone earlier?"

"Fine. I think we're getting somewhere..." He stamped his foot lightly on the ground, kicking a clod of earth away. "I know you probably thought I was being harsh insisting that Adam had to be there earlier but..."

Ruth took one of her hands out of her pocket and gave his arm a squeeze through the thick coat he was wearing. "I do understand Harry, and more importantly so does Adam."

"He said something?"

She shook her head, "no, not as such." She glanced down at her feet and took a deep breath, it was now or never. "He was telling me what a good man you were and also, in a very oblique way, that I should give you a chance, give us a chance."

Harry's demeanour darkened suddenly, "I'm sorry, Ruth. I'll have a word, I never intended..."

"I know," she butted in quickly. "And please don't say anything to him." She took another deep breath and reached out to take hold of one of his hands in hers. "He only said what I was already thinking, have been thinking about constantly since..."

Whatever she was about to say was interrupted by a shout. "Uncle Harry, are you holding hands with Auntie Ruth."

They both looked up in unison to see Wes smiling at them and his father stood slightly behind him looking mortified. "Ahhhh." Harry for once, was lost for words.

"Uncle Harry is helping me to not fall over on my bum like you did earlier." Ruth said with a smile, feeling the blood rush to her face and Harry squeezed her hand in acknowledgement but didn't let go.

Wes grinned, "cool. Do you want a go with the sparklers."

Ruth shook her head, "I'll probably slip over if I start waving my hands about."

"Wes," Adam called, "the fireworks are about to start, do you want to sit on my shoulders so you can see better?" As his son ran back over to him, he mouthed 'sorry' at the two of them.

For a few moments, they stood there, neither of them knowing exactly what to say; Ruth still holding Harry's hand watching as the fireworks started, setting off a dazzling display above them. "Did I understand you correctly?" Harry said gently dropping his mouth so he could speak into her ear. "You want to give us another go?"

Ruth turned around, "Yes," she answered softly, moving her mouth close to his ear so he could hear her above all the whizzes and bangs coming from the sky above. "I think it's about time I do what I want to do for once and bugger everyone else and what they think of it."

He smiled suddenly, his whole face lighting up and he moved to brush her lips very lightly with his own, very mindful that they were in a public place and no doubt being observed by a small boy. "I'm so very glad to hear that."

She smiled up and moved to stand in front of him, leaning back slightly against the bulk of his body, feeling one of his arms encircle her and covering that hand with her own where it rested on her stomach. The butterflies were still there, but this time she was determined to not to flee at the first sight of trouble or gossip, and as she watched the fireworks explode over them she made plans to take him to a warm pub after the event had finished, while Adam took his son back to school so she could start the next chapter of her life with a man she had slowly come to love over the last three years.

THE END


End file.
